


Love Can't Stop Bullets

by thegirlwhoknits



Category: Teen Wolf (TV)
Genre: Father/Son Incest, Getting Together, Hurt/Comfort, M/M, Pre-Slash, hospital fic
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-04-03
Updated: 2018-04-03
Packaged: 2019-04-18 02:53:45
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,166
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14203482
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/thegirlwhoknits/pseuds/thegirlwhoknits
Summary: Stiles plans to tell his dad about his feelings for him, but the sheriff gets shot before they can talk about it. Now Stiles just needs him to wake up.





	Love Can't Stop Bullets

**Author's Note:**

  * For [lavenderlotion](https://archiveofourown.org/users/lavenderlotion/gifts).



> Another prompt for [Brandi](https://archiveofourown.org/users/lavenderlotion/pseuds/lavenderlotion) and TWCAW! I meant to post this for the hurt/comfort theme on Sunday, but ironically I was stuck at the emergency vet all day because Odin licked off his flea medicine (he's fine)!

Stiles was legitimately going to go crazy waiting for his father to wake up. Melissa had told him that the surgery had been “as routine as these things can be, Stiles,” but then why wasn’t he awake?

“If I didn’t know better I’d suspect you were avoiding me, Dad,” he told the unconscious sheriff.

His last words to John had been, “We need to talk.” They’d been a long time coming. Six months, if Stiles were being generous; four years if he wasn’t. Which was to say, six months ago he’d broken up with Malia and came out to everyone as bisexual, which in turn seemed to escalate the weird subtext he’d had with his dad ever since he hit puberty at thirteen and started having fantasies about older men with sheriff’s badges.

John had been really good at keeping his feelings under wraps. In fact, B.W. (before werewolves), Stiles would’ve sworn up and down that there was no chance his dad could ever see him in that light. After Stiles and Derek sat his dad down and had The Talk, things…changed. Just a little, not in any ways that added up on their own.

Hugs that lasted longer than they would have before. A lingering hand on his cheek. Kisses to his forehead when the sheriff thought he was asleep. And a little more weight given to the “I love yous” they said to each other. Stiles’ fantasies had grown more vivid, tinged with hope. Maybe, since the rest of their lives were so weird, John would be willing to give it a shot. Especially since everyone knew now that Derek and Peter had something similar going on. (Peter had told him that it wasn’t so unusual in werewolf families, given the limited number of people they could trust. Derek just blushed and refused to talk about it.)

So, Stiles had stopped his dad one day after school and told him, “We need to talk.” Only his dad had to get ready to cover a shift for Parrish, and then he answered the call for a convenience store robbery, and some completely human _asshole_ had shot him, and now…here they were. In a hospital room, John unconscious and Stiles ready to beat his head against the wall so he could stop hearing the quiet sounds of hospital machinery.

It was late. Visiting hours were long past over, and the hospital was on a skeleton crew for the night. Beacon Hills Memorial was chronically understaffed these days, just like the sheriff’s department. It was hard to find new hires when the turnover was due to both places having a massacre about once a year. Every little noise in the hall echoed, and Stiles found himself getting up frequently to peer out into the hall. It was a sad fact of Beacon Hills that the hospital and the sheriff’s stations — the two places that should be most secure — were often the most dangerous.

The nurse on rotation wasn’t Melissa; she’d stayed after her shift until they got the news that John was stable, and then gone home. The night nurse was Diane. She was nice enough, but she hadn’t been there too long and Stiles didn’t know her very well. She came in to check on his dad every hour like clockwork, and so far nothing had changed. The monotone beeping of the heart monitor was driving him insane, so he started to talk to cover it up.

“Hey dad,” he said quietly to the figure laying all-too-still in the hospital bed. “You’d better wake up soon. They’ve got the guy who shot you in custody, but Peter was threatening to kill him. If you don’t get better fast, I don’t know how long I can hold him back.”

The adults of Beacon Hills had gotten really chummy in the past year and a half. They’d taken to having poker nights every other Wednesday. Stiles thought it was as much a support group as it was a social activity, but it seemed to be good for all of them. It also gave the younger pack members an opportunity to bet on when Peter and Chris were going to admit they were dating. Stiles’ money was on the first week in July.

“Also, Melissa says that if you wake up before her next shift, she’ll bring you a piece of that chocolate pie you like, from Amy’s. I know you’re usually only supposed to have sweets once a month, but I’m willing to make an exception in this case.” Stiles’ throat closed up a little when he thought of all the times he’d worried about his dad’s cholesterol. Now he was in the hospital because of something no amount of leafy greens could prevent. He could protect his dad from all kinds of supernatural threats now with his magic, but one greedy asshole with a gun could take him away. He forced himself to stop thinking about it before he could have another panic attack like the one that had swallowed him when he answered the phone.

Sniffling a little, he reached out to hold his dad’s hand. It felt wrong: limp and dry and a little too cold. Stiles unfolded the blanket from the bottom of the bed and pulled it up. “I really need you, Dad. I need you to come back here and talk to me. Don’t think you’re going to get out of having that conversation just because you decided to run into a bullet. I know there’s…there’s something going on between us, and I just love you so much. I think we have a chance at something more, and I don’t want to lose that chance. I just don’t. So I need you to _wake up.”_

The sheriff’s fingers twitched in his grip, although his eyes remained closed and his breathing was steady.

“C’mon, Dad, you can do it,” Stiles encouraged him fiercely. “I love you so much, I just need you to come back to me. I haven’t even had a chance to kiss you properly yet.”

“Might want to wait ‘til I’m out of the hospital,” John’s voice rasped out quietly. “I think the heart monitor would give us away.”

“Dad!” Stiles launched himself at the bed. He hugged John as closely as he could while still being aware of his shoulder wound. His dad chuckled quietly and hugged him back for a long time.

Finally Stiles sat back, still clasping his father’s hand in both of his. “So… How much of that did you hear, exactly?”

John gave him a lopsided smile. “Enough to know that we should really have that talk soon.” He paused for a moment, and then continued, “I think we’re going to come out on the same page, though.”

Stiles couldn’t contain his grin as he raised his dad’s hand to his mouth and kissed it. “I guess we’d better get you out of here as soon as we can, then, huh?”


End file.
